Is this an archaic form of "please proceed"? I have never heard in in speech but sometimes it appears in novels. My version of "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" is full of it, apparently in place of "please".

5 Answers
5

adverb formal or archaic
used as a preface to polite requests or instructions: pray continue.
• used as a way of adding ironic or sarcastic emphasis to a question: and what, pray, was the purpose of that?